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When sorted out we tried again this time things started to fall into place until I
tried to stop and I was back on the ground. Mum explained that as I slowed down to stop I had to put my foot or feet down just before stopping so I did not fall over a few more tries and falls and my days of cycle
riding had started.
During my days at the Junior School at Winteringham I took and passed my Cycling Proficiency Test, under the tuition of the local police in the school playground.
Having my own cycle I soon
learnt to carry out the many repairs to punctured tyres, changing wheel and bearings that were found on different parts of the cycle and when necessary carry out repairs to the internal gears in the back wheel.
In fact the only thing that I was unable to master was to adjust correctly or replace the spokes in the wheels.
One day I would think about the age of 16 years of age, my friends and I went to Barton upon Humber
possibly to the cinema there but I was a little short of cash so as they went on the service bus I told them that I would go on my cycle and meet them at Barton. Setting off just before they got on the bus I headed
out of Winteringham along Silver Street.
The bus which soon caught and overtook me. I followed behind it at a safe distance. The bus was a double-decker, and my friends sat upstairs at the back and waved to me. We turned onto the A1077 towards South Ferriby peddling away behind the bus I started to think “How boring! I can do better than this!” and as there was not much traffic about as we came into the bends just before the straight piece of road that ran along the side of the River Humber I dropped back slightly to get a better view of the road ahead and then as the road was clear in front of the bus with no oncoming traffic I had another quick look, waved to my friends and peddled harder pulled out from behind the bus and drew along side of it. When I drew along side the driver’s cab the look on his face showed he was very surprised because it was a cycle and not a car at the side of him, with a wave I started to pull slowly but surely away leaving the bus disappearing behind me. After leaving my cycle at my grandparents and having a quick chat I went up to meet the bus and friends arriving. The return journey saw me again beating the bus home.
I know at that time the buses were not as fast as they are today and road traffic not so numerous but for someone on a standard cycle it was quite some achievement back then.
Not long after the incident with
the bus I found that I was able to ride my cycle at a fast speed and able to keep it up for quite long distances where the roads permitted me to do.
‘Courting’
When I first started courting my wife Shirley, most of the visits to see her were
made on my cycle, the other times I travelled on the bus. Some occasions on Saturday night we would go to the second screening of that night's film at the cinema, with her parents' permission. I know this may sound
strange requiring her parents' permission but in the 60s many people still had to be home for a certain time and that for many was normal. To be out later you asked if the time could be changed or extended (not like
in today's society of come and go as you please.) On some of these late nights I was allowed to stay the night, spending the night sleeping on the sofa in one of the rooms, which was quite comfortable with the
family sleeping upstairs. The only drawback was that when the family started to get up there was no lying in!
One of the Sundays after I had stopped overnight and we were expected at my parents for dinner,
found us waiting at the bus stop for the bus to Winteringham, me with my cycle on which I was to ride home when Shirley was safely on the bus. As the bus topped the hill out of Barton and headed towards South
Ferriby I was not far behind and starting to pedal a bit harder and, to coin a phrase, “the bus was mine”. Pedalling hard I was up to and past it and with a wave to Shirley I was gone.
On arriving home and speaking with my family for a short time I went up to the bus stop to meet Shirley off the bus.
With most of the drivers and conductors being local or regular on this run they soon found
out that if my cycle was with us at a bus stop and Shirley travelling by herself that somewhere on the route they would either find me passing them or sat waiting for them to catch up or at the stop where Shirley
got off.
Most Weekends when we used the bus it was at the same times. On one Sunday we set off from home going up Low Burgage to catch the bus and having plenty of time we were walking at a leisurely pace and
as we got half way up the bus rounded the corner from High Burgage into Silver Street where the bus stop was. Thinking that we had missed the bus we walked slower as it would be the next bus that we would be
catching now and thought it strange that we had missed this one as we had given ourselves plenty of time to catch it.
To our surprise after a few minutes the conductor appeared at the top of the road and
shouted for us to get a move on! When we got onto the bus thanking the crew for waiting they explained that they had arrived well in front of the time that they were due at Winteringham as they had not picked up any
passengers after leaving Scunthorpe and that we had been seen going for the bus but when we didn't arrive they thought something was wrong hence the conductor looking for us. I found that many of the crews on the
buses in the days of my youth knew most of their passengers by their name, the times and days they travelled and in some cases their families and relations where they were going and if someone was not there on that
day or time they would enquire about them so that they did not miss the bus. It was as if everybody was part of one big extended family.
My last comments were in no way meant as disrespect to the
drivers of today who have now not only the driving the bus but are conductor as well and with the ever increasing traffic etc. their jobs are a lot harder now.
Not many years ago if compared with today you
may be forgiven for thinking that you could have been in another world where people were more polite, had better manners and had more respect for others but times change and sadly most of it has gone now with a few
exceptions.
‘Dog Sense’
When living at the Station Masters House in Low Burgage we had two dogs that
belonged to Mum and me. One day we noted that both dogs were missing at the same time. We were used to one or the other at the house and one somewhere in the yard but never both at the same time. The day that this
happened was a Sunday and Shirley was coming to our house and we were most surprised when she arrived and both dogs were with her. When Shirley got off the bus she found that both dogs were sitting there at the bus
stop. When Shirley was to visit us again we noted that just before the bus was due both dogs jumped the fence side by side and were off up the path towards the top of the road and when Shirley got off the bus the
dogs were sat waiting for her . This happened numerous times when Shirley travelled alone. Somehow the dogs knew the day and time of her arrival and were off up the road - the strange thing is that we never taught
them to do it and if Shirley's time or day was changed they were up there. The only explanation I can give is that they some how understood what the family were saying and acted on it.
More memories of
the two dogs which were Mums called `Mitzi', and mine which was one of her puppies and had grown up. My dog lived outside in a kennel but still came into the house and Mum's lived in the house.
The dog I owned was never really given a name and had always appeared when the word `Pup` was said so in one sense he had picked his own and we continued to use it. They were two good dogs who got on together well and with Pup spending most of his time outside and Mitzi inside there were some good laughs at their antics. One instance was when someone knocked on the front door as they waited for an answer pup started to work his way round behind the person. Unseen by them he sat a short distance from them and as the door opened Mitzi appeared from the house and sat just in front of who had answered the door which left the person as they tried to leave between the two dogs not knowing which way to turn and what I would say was could only be described as big cheesy grins on their faces. Neither of the dogs were nasty but quite a number of callers were caught out by them in this way, though it only needed a quick word and they were gone.
While my family lived at Winteringham we had a variety of animals and pets. There was Mum's dog Mitzi, a Border Collie Cross That was raised from a pup bought from the old market in Scunthorpe well
before its modernisation when various pets and animals were sold more freely than today. Sadly she died after a number of heart attacks and she was quite old in animal years. There was one of her pups who I owned,
his father was one of the village dogs that was about with the intention of having fun. I had this dog until we moved to our new home in Winterton.
There were chickens and geese that provided eggs and food
for the pot (eaten). We had a cat that we brought with us to Winteringham when we moved there. I can't remember its name but remember him coming home one day with one of his legs hanging by possibly a small piece of
skin. After a visit to the vet Dad used to dust the wound with something from the vets and when what was left of the leg had healed the cat seemed to be as fast if not faster with three legs than four.
Through the years between me and my brothers we owned rabbits, guinea pigs, goldfish and maybe others pets that I have forgotten about.
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